Car retail has invested heavily in technology over the past two decades, with dealer management systems, CRMs, lead platforms, pricing tools and reporting dashboards now firmly embedded across the industry.
Yet despite that spend, many dealerships still rely on manual effort, fragmented processes and staff spending far too much time chasing tasks that technology was meant to remove. The gap between investment and day-to-day reality remains stubbornly wide.
That gap is where agentic AI is supposed to make a difference, although the industry is still some distance from widespread deployment. Many operators remain cautious, particularly when it comes to questions of control, accountability and risk. Given the margins and complexity involved in car retail, that caution is entirely understandable.
Much of the discussion around artificial intelligence in automotive has focused on insight rather than execution. AI can generate reports more quickly, surface trends buried in data and answer operational questions with greater speed. Those benefits are real, but insight alone does not change outcomes if the work itself still depends on people manually moving information between systems.
Recent research by management consultancy McKinsey makes this point clearly by showing that while generative AI tools are now widely used, most organisations are struggling to turn them into measurable financial results. The underlying issue is that prompt-based tools rarely change how work actually gets done. Agentic AI is positioned differently because it is designed to act, not just to advise.
Agentic AI refers to systems that can plan tasks, take action, retain context and operate across multiple platforms with a defined objective. In practical terms, this means software that does not simply support decisions but carries them out across connected systems. For car dealers, that distinction matters far more than another layer of reporting.
In practice, however, there is still relatively little true agentic AI operating inside UK dealerships today. Operators are nervous about handing over processes that directly affect customers, revenue and compliance. Trust in these systems will have to be earned through consistent performance rather than bold claims.
Where progress is being made, it tends to focus on administrative work where the value is clear, and the risk can be tightly managed. Sales, finance and after-sales all remain heavily burdened by repetitive processes that add cost without improving the customer experience. These are the areas where automation can deliver early wins.
Lead management is a good example of where agentic systems can make a practical difference. Many dealerships still rely on staff to manually assess enquiries, check data quality, assign leads, trigger follow-ups and log outcomes across multiple platforms. An agent-led approach can manage that entire flow, while staff step in only when judgment and human interaction genuinely add value.
Customer expectations are also changing in ways dealers cannot ignore. Consumers are increasingly used to digital services that are always available and responsive, yet still allow for an easy transition to human support when needed. In automotive retail, that means enquiries, bookings and updates moving smoothly between automated systems and showroom teams without repetition or friction.
The challenge for dealers is making that transition seamless and fast enough to enhance the experience rather than disrupt it. When done properly, it allows frontline staff to focus on meaningful conversations rather than on administration. At the same time, it delivers efficiency-driven cost savings across sales, finance and after-sales operations.
Finance and insurance operations face similar pressures. Submitting applications, checking eligibility, gathering missing information and managing lender responses all introduce delay and cost. Agentic systems can run these processes end to end, escalating to people only when exceptions arise.
After-sales is another area where the benefits are immediate and easy to measure. Booking management, service reminders, parts ordering, warranty claims and customer updates all require routine actions across disconnected systems. Agentic AI can handle much of this automatically, while flagging delays or repeat issues early so managers can intervene before problems escalate.
McKinsey points out that this shift is already underway in sectors such as travel, retail, and life sciences, where agent-driven systems are improving productivity by automating entire workflows. Automotive retail shares the same operational complexity and stands to gain in similar ways. What it cannot afford is to treat this as another experiment layered on top of existing problems.
There is also a longer-term commercial angle that dealers should be paying attention to. McKinsey estimates that agent-led commerce could unlock trillions of dollars in global retail value over the next decade. In automotive terms, this suggests a future where software increasingly acts on behalf of customers, from comparing vehicles to arranging finance and booking test drives.
That future will not reward businesses that approach automation casually. Value will only be realised by dealers willing to modernise their technology stacks, trust their data and put clear governance in place. Staff also need to be trained to work alongside automated systems rather than being kept at arm’s length.
For dealers, the lesson is a familiar one. Digital initiatives fail when they add complexity rather than remove it. Agentic AI offers an opportunity to simplify operations, but only if leaders are prepared to rethink how work flows through the business.
Deployment is ultimately about trust, ROI and taking people with you. Sales teams, finance managers, internal IT departments and marketing functions all need confidence that these systems are transparent, controllable and delivering real value. Internal IT teams, in particular, need the ability to shape and mould solutions rather than being handed black boxes.
There are also two sides to the value equation. External AI benefits improve the customer experience through speed and consistency. Internal AI benefits drive productivity inside technology and operations teams, gains that can be passed on to dealers through simpler processes and lower costs.
So what should dealers do now? The market is noisy, hype is widespread and genuine ROI is still uneven. The sensible response is to focus on targeted deployment, let the technology prove itself, and choose solutions that remove friction rather than add another layer to manage.
Agentic AI will shape the future of car retail, but not through bold promises. It will earn its place by quietly improving how routine work gets done. The real advantage will come from freeing people to focus on customers rather than administration.
Mike Allen is the managing director of Cambria Private Capital.
